Voice of Jewish Sport: A return to the ring for a boxing rabbi
TWO YEARS after retiring, during which time he completed his studies to become a rabbi, Yuri Foreman will be making a welcome return to the boxing ring early next month. The light-middleweight 35-year-old became Israel’s first world champion back in 2009 when he defeated Daniel Santos and then hit the headlines a year later when he squared up against Miguel Cotto in the first fight to be held at the new Yankee Stadium. Losing that fight in dramatic style, slipping and tearing a knee ligament, but continuing after the referee had seemingly ended the contest, he lost his next fight and then seemingly hung up his gloves for good. However, now looking forward to his return, he said: “Anything you do or anything you love to do, once in a while it’s good to take a break. So, I retired for two years, but then realised that I miss it. I love what I do, I’m good at it and I just felt like I needed to do some more.” Hopefully in the mood to create some more sporting history.
WHILE HE never retired, relatively little has been heard of Noah Rubin since he won the 2014 junior title at Wimbledon. While he did make a wild card appearance at the US Open a couple of months after his win at SW19, he swapped his racket for his studies to focus on his education. His is though back in the headlines this week as not only did he win his first professional title at the Charlottesville Men’s Pro Challenger, he did it by completing one of the biggest comebacks in Challenger [tennis’ secon tier] history. The 19-year-old came back from a set and two breaks down, while also seeing off two match points to eventually beat Tommy Paul 3-6, 7-6 (9-7), 6-3 to clinch the title, while for good measure, also picked up the tournament’s Sportsmanship Award. Ranked 553rd in the world, he said: “I’ve never got past the second round in a Challenger before this so winning the title is definitely a huge improvement. It was just a roller coaster and I tried to keep it together the best as possible.” That he seemingly did.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
